Divided we fall
by SundayInDecember
Summary: The long-awaited Triple Threat match is finally there, and Dean makes a decision. Here, at the end of the road, he sides with his enemy to take out his brother, and with one Powerbomb, they end all they ever had, once and for all. This is the new era; and here, only one of them can rise.


As far as he can remember, this is the first quiet moment in this match. It seems unfair that it has to be so weird

Dean knows, of course, that there will be no "friends" in matches like this one. You can team up every now and then, but eventually, one must win and the other two, three, thirty, have to go down. Yet, some part of him had expected it would be him and Roman against Rollins.

And now, Dean's standing here over Roman, curled up on the floor in front of the announcement table, staring at Rollins who is leaning against it, contemplating whether or not to help him taking Roman out of the equation.

Around them, the crowd buzzes, the tension in the announcers is tangible, and he knows Seth Rollins well enough to see the offer in his eyes. A small part of him is horrified at the idea of betraying his friend by working with the enemy. But a larger part coldly disagrees, supported by the third one, the one that doubts. It has been doubting this "friendship" for a while now, longer than those 30 days Roman was suspended, but now, this doubt seems to have merit.

So now, Dean stands there, staring at his longtime friend and longtime enemy, wondering if the man at his feet really was a friend worth keeping.

Yes, they had had their fights, and no, God no, they hadn't always gotten along. Quite the contrary. But they had been best friends, and they had been brothers….but his brother would have told him if he was struggling, or if he was about to get punished for being caught with the hand in the cookie jar. Yet, there had been nothing. Not a word, not even after his suspension. All Dean had gotten was that small paragraph on Twitter and then nothing, no contact at all until the very moment Roman had come out here to fight him for the title.

This damned title, the chance to be on top. That had divided them, destroyed them.

Or maybe, it just was the _truth_. Yes, the Shield had been great, but if you wanted to be the greatest and the two other guys on your team wanted the same, you had no chance but to stand back and let one of them win or stomp them down with all your strength. And no matter how hard you tried, friendship, even brotherhood, might not survive that.

Rollins was still a treacherous scumbag, of course….but maybe, he'd just been the one to learn that lesson first.

Dean had learned it hard, he'd tried. But no matter how much he loved Roman, losing the Royal Rumble for him and later, losing _to_ him had hurt and left him angry, seeing him as the champ had hurt, and the mistrust that had come from the constant fear that one of them would attack the other had poisoned their bond.

Maybe now was the moment to kill it.

His decision must have been visible in his face, because Rollins suddenly pushes himself off the announcement table, straightening to look into Dean's eyes. Dean stares back, into the face of the man he'd once loved, now hates, and still sometimes wonders about, in terms of "was he always like this and hid it, or did he change over the time?". Into the eyes of the man, and he has to admit it, who proved himself to be a better fighter than Roman on Money in the Bank. Whom he has to beat to prove himself champ, the way he has tried to again and again over the past years, before Rollins blew his knee out.

"You," he says, gesturing at Rollins sharply. "and me. We fucking end this tonight."

"Yeah," Seth – _Rollins_ \- gives back. "But first, him."

Dean nods, and gestures "let's go", trying to hype himself to go through with it. He thinks he can dimly hear the crowd chanting _yes_ through the rush of blood in his ears, but it might be his own thoughts, and he pays them no attention as he reaches down to grab Roman for their final tag team move.

A part of him hates doing it. He has lost it once tonight and attacked Roman – _Reigns_ – together with Rollins, beating his opponent down just like old times. But that had been in the heat of the moment, when he'd been angry at Reigns for hitting him one time too many instead of helping him taking out Rollins first and then settle this between brothers.

But this, this is deliberate.

He grabs Reigns and pulls him up, helping Rollins to settle the big man on his shoulders. He feels weird doing it, turning on his (former) best friend. Guilty. Dirty. Excited. _Relived_.

Now that he is on SmackDown and Reigns on in Raw, it's over anyway. No more brotherhood, no more friendship, not even the pretended kind they'd had over the past months. No more forcing themselves to be "former Shield brothers". If it wasn't over when Rollins first took a chair to their backs, it's over now, right now.

Dean does see the irony in using their favorite Shield finisher to finally end The Shield (well, not quite, it's a simple standard double powerbomb, not their triple version, however that one is called, but still) and that makes it better and so much worse. When the moment comes, Dean pushes, putting all his strength into it, slamming his ex-brother into a table and finishes it, them, their tag team, their brotherhood. Once and for all.

If Reigns' body crashing against the announcement table is that last word ever written in The Shield's history, then the steel chair hitting Dean's body is the exclamation mark.

He's dazed for a moment, watching from the corner of his eye how Rollins finishes his move by slamming the chair over Reigns' back, too, and is surprised by how little he cares.

A part of him his railing about it, wondering how this has happened. They had been so great. Yes, they had wanted titles, but not for that price. They hadn't played that game. They hadn't been greedy like that. He doesn't know how this had sneaked up on them, this need to have the spotlight for themselves instead of sharing it with their brothers, but it had. It had gotten Rollins first, and then it had started to infect Reigns, and now, it had him in its grip.

He should be desperate about it, but he isn't. He doesn't even care.

Instead, Dean is angry. Angry and happy at the same time _._ And it's fantastic. In fact, what Dean feels is _elation_.

So, yes, maybe the word 'fin' has been written in book called The Shield, the credits have finished rolling, the last bow has been taken and curtain has fallen. It's over.

Now, there are three new stories to be told.

And Dean fully intends his story to be the one about the hero with the big gold ornament over his shoulder, consequence be damned.


End file.
